Lots of catching up to do....

Well, limited and no wi-fi has kept me from updating, but here's how our trip has been going:

We had a total blast in San Francisco. It was great seeing our friends there and Drew's show was a lot of fun. I think I got to see almost everyone there who is dear to me. Overall, it was just great to be back and I think we are still considering moving back there someday.

Monday, after breakfast with a couple of friends, we headed to Yosemite National Park which seemed to take a lot longer than I remembered. I bought my first annual National Parks pass, which will certainly be worth it by the end of this year, living near Yellowstone and Glacier. I am probably more excited about this than there is reason to be....

By the time we got to our campsite (after an additional hour of driving on mostly gravel roads due to construction....) we were exhausted and decided to just set up camp and spend the rest of the evening at the Wawona Campground, instead of heading to the Valley or other locales. We had a nice walk by the Merced River and listened to the evening campfire ranger talk. The next day, we headed to the Valley early and saw as much as we could.

Basically, we got to see everything in the Valley and then the scenic Tioga Pass Road. Above: at Tunnel View, and Bridalveil Falls.

Dear boyfriend learned he really likes waterfalls while sitting at Lower Yosemite Falls, which means we must take the Niagara Falls trip at some point soon!

From Yosemite and the Tioga Pass, we headed to Eureka, Nevada, having some vague idea that it was one of the larger towns on the Loneliest Road and had at least one decent hotel. It also seemed to be within a reasonable distance for driving that day. We probably could have made it further, except I wanted to see Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park, primarily because it is a ghost town and the one I remembered (and perhaps the only) from the Road Trip USA book which I have been using somewhat to plan. Unfortunately this stop brought us a bit out of the way and made the drive longer.....but I'm getting ahead of myself. The route took us on CA-167/NV-359 which was an awesome drive! Very Loneliest Road-esque and just beautiful scenery. We went around a good portion of Mono Lake which is also lovely and a place I'd like to visit another time. As I drove, I saw a sign for a ghost town that none of my books had mentioned: Bodie, California. The sign came up quickly and I hardly had time to slow down before we passed the turn indicating that the town was about 10 miles north. We briefly considered turning around, but figured that the planned stop in Nevada should be sufficient.

The drive to the Berlin ghost town was a lot farther than we thought and also up yet another gravel road. Maybe I would have felt the same about Bodie, but it was rather disappointing. Unlike Bodie, however, this site appears to be quite well-maintained, or at least to the point that nothing is really falling down. The highlight of the visit was our first jackrabbit sighting! Upon leaving, the GPS was giving us some strange directions. Instead of wanting us to just go back to the main highway, the way we came, it appeared that it wanted us to take a couple of unpaved roads to Route 50/Loneliest Road. We figured it was confused and backtracked to the highway. A couple hours later on Route 50 before Austin, Nevada we saw a sign directing us to the Berlin-Ichthyosaur Park, 56 miles away. So the GPS was totally right and we could've saved an hour's time, though over some tedious and dusty driving.

Austin was a town Dad and I had driven through on the road trip last year. I had recalled - and reviewed in my road trip and AAA book - Stokes Castle, a stone tower built in Austin by Anson Phelps Stokes, a wealthy East Coast man who had developed a mining company in the area. Aside from it being rather incongruous in humble (and charming) small-town Austin, the name had struck me as being really familiar. The same thought had occurred to me last year, but I never pursued it. Anson Phelps, as in perhaps connected to the same Anson Phelps for whom the town of Ansonia, Connecticut is named? Turns out that Anson Greene Phelps, his grandfather, is that same Anson Phelps. Hurray for the Valley connection!

It being late and toward the end of a long drive, we only stopped for dinner in Austin (though now I would be much more interested in heading back there to see Stokes Castle up close!). We stopped at a little restaurant, the Toiyabe Cafe, and enjoyed some tasty food and the friendly service. Continuing on a while, we made it to Eureka and checked in for the night, enjoying the luxury of hot water and a shower after the somewhat primitive campground situation at Yosemite.

The next day, we made the drive to Great Basin National Park. The camping was first-come, first-served, so we scrambled a bit to find something around noon, but eventually found a nice spot at the Baker Campground. We had bought tickets for the Lehman Caves Grand Palace Tour, which was really interesting and fun. After that, we set up camp and took the Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive to stay out of the heat and sun. On the way, we saw lots of deer and more jackrabbits, as well as mice and tiny squirrels. For reasons I'll discuss in a later post, cooking was impossible so we drove to tiny Baker, Nevada to pick up supplies for a sandwich and firewood. Despite the great campfire I built, we headed to the tent early. (More details to come...)

We got up very early, stopped at the park cafe for breakfast, and headed to Tropic, Utah and Bryce Canyon National Park. We were a bit early for our hotel, so we drove Scene Byway Route 12, which was on the way anyway and provided a lot for us to do. We made a few stops for photos, and hiked the Mossy Cave Trail, which included another waterfall!

By the time we got back from the hike, we were able to check in, and then head to Bryce Canyon to spend the rest of the day. We were both tired from driving, so we parked at the Visitor Center and took the shuttle which actually made the visit more enjoyable. I wish we had done the same at Yosemite, and will certainly look to do the same at other parks. We did not have a lot of time, but enough to see most of the scenic lookouts and hike the canyon rim a bit. Of everything we have done on this trip, Bryce Canyon is our absolute favorite and we're already planning on coming back, probably later in the year. We saw antelope (pronghorns, really) grazing in the park as well as in the surrounding meadows along Route 12. We also saw the prairie dogs and their town in the park, and the one and only elk of the trip, off in the distance in a meadow.

Annnnnd, a sign I really liked, totally unrelated to serious national park and nature stuff:

Anyway.....through a combination of things, mostly involving being tired of driving all the time, camping being a huge obstacle rather than mostly enjoyable, and our budget unable to support staying in hotels every night....we looked at the itinerary and decided to shorten the trip. We're tired, and just want to be in one place for a while. So we decided to drive to Grand Canyon and then back to Missoula to settle in there. We're loosely planning on driving together as far as Chicago, and DB will then fly back from there and I'll continue on, but I think right now we are too tired of traveling to plan this.

Today we got up early and drove to Grand Canyon, only about 3 hours or so from Bryce Canyon. It was a really pretty drive, but got tedious toward the end, especially with all the tailgaters. I'll admit that I usually drive faster than the speed limit, but there's something about speeding more than maybe 5 or 10 mph over the limit in a national park or forest that feels really wrong....but I guess others disagree.

The closest park entrance for us was the North Rim, which I had read is less crowded than the South. Well, even the North was pretty crowded and makes me less inclined to want to see the South if it's that busy! We took the short hike to Bright Angel Point and spent some time taking in the views. It is breathtaking, and hard to really take it all in at once. Partly, it was very crowded, and partly the heights were a bit dizzying. It seemed a clear enough day to me, but in looking at the photos, it must have been a little hazy and also as we left the park, storm clouds were gathering. The colors are nowhere as brilliant in my pictures as they were in real life, and it's hard to see the scale of the canyon of course. Overall, we enjoyed the visit, and also saw bison in the meadows! It reminded me very much of Yellowstone, though fortunately these bison stayed off the roads.

And here we are (again) in Salt Lake City...same hotel too, actually. Tomorrow evening will find us back in Missoula, settling into apartment number two for us....after I get some rest, I'll certainly post more about our adventures in camping and nature.

Salt Lake City, Reno and San Francisco

We got back on the road and headed for Salt Lake City as our first destination....the drive down was nice and scenic. I have always enjoyed driving through Idaho and someday hopefully we will stop and see more than just what is off the highway!

We left Salt Lake City and on our way out on I-80 we stopped at the Great Salt Lake and Bonneville Salt Flats:

Kevin took the opportunity to do a little photo shoot.

The water was certainly salty and I'm glad we decided not to swim as even dipping my feet in was a little gross, afterward. The water was beautiful though as was the landscape beyond. We drove on and stopped at a rest area at the Bonneville Salt Flats for some more photos and to finally rinse my feet off. Ick!

I've been reading Annals of the Former World and though I'm not far into it, it has changed the way I look at the mountains and hills and valleys and ranges, particularly along our drive to Reno on I-80. Even with my vocabulary I have no idea what about 1/3 of the words he uses mean, which makes this a challenging read, though still enjoyable given his style. I've tried to read with the resources of the Internet accompanying me, but that makes it quite tedious. I'm finding it far better to use context and guess as best I can....I can always re-read it and look up words again if I need to. For a first reading I'm thinking that more general may be better.

In Reno, we stayed at a 4-star casino resort which was interesting. It was by far the nicest room we've stayed in (especially for the money, though it's clearly subsidized by the gambling and restaurants downstairs....)...but it was odd being at a casino and rather sad overall.

Friday, we drove on to San Francisco, over the mountains near Tahoe and Truckee. We hit our first real city traffic since leaving St. Louis. Once in the City, we wandered down to the Inner Sunset and explored our old neighborhood, finding several new restaurants have opened! It made us a bit sad to see what we have missed and are missing.....we then met up with DB's former roommate, had dinner at our favorite Indian place and headed to see Drew's show in Oakland. We spent a few memorable hours with friends afterward, talking and playing charades....and then trying to figure out how to get into the apartment after our friend lost his keys....in his shirt pocket.

This morning finds us at one of our favorite old cafes.....and I'm getting ready to have lunch with a good friend. Tonight should bring more friends and another Drew gig....

Photos!

Took me a while to remember to take my camera out of the car....not too much at this point but a few may be worth sharing:

Mountains near Missoula


Large bird's nest (not the osprey - my camera ran out of batteries after taking terrible pictures of wildflowers) at Council Grove. Any guesses on what bird lives here? It had a few roundish openings in the side, as though it were a hollow sphere and the bird might enter through a little doorway.

Sunset in Missoula after late afternoon storm....there was a rainbow too!

We got an apartment! It has purple trim....I think we must be meant for purple dwellings.

Celebrating with some wine and getting ready to check out of the hotel tomorrow, and into our new apartment!

Missoula & Future Road Trip Planning

We are finding quite enough to keep us busy in Missoula. The downtown area is great and we've been able to eat at a new restaurant every day. Yesterday, we found a nearby state park and hiked around the river a bit, before picnicking and walking some more. We saw a large raptor holding a fish in its talons, and its nearby nest and mate high up in a dead pine tree. I later identified it as an osprey. We didn't see much else except swarms of horseflies and mosquitoes.

No apartment yet, but there are two potential ones. We have an application in for one, and the second we are seeing tonight and probably going to apply for. It's really close to the University and downtown area.

Meanwhile, I've been planning the rest of our road trip route. We'd like to be in San Francisco this weekend to see Drew's show and catch up with friends. From there, we'll continue seeing the parks of the West, which unfortunately has us making a strange 8-shaped loop ultimately.


View Larger Map

From San Francisco to Yosemite, across the Loneliest Road to Great Basin. From there, we'll head east and then south to Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park, and then to the Grand Canyon. Then, we'll head back west to pick up the Pacific Highway near LA and follow it up to Portland. From there, we'll travel directly back to Missoula. Ideally, after spending a bit of time settling in there more, we'll head east and south to the Badlands, camp and hike a bit, and then head out to Chicago from where DB will fly to Missoula and I'll drive back East. At least that's the plan....annnnnd I've just realized that this completely leaves out Yellowstone, Grand Tetons and Glacier....but those are within a daytrip's distance to Missoula. Still.....if only we didn't have to rush to get to San Francisco, we could hit a lot of the parks on the way there. Oh well....

Big Sky!

We are in Montana! Our first stopover was in Billings, after a long, long drive through South Dakota (stopped at Corn Palace, saw the Badlands in the distance because we stayed on I90-W...but we'll return for them later...), through the Northeast corner of Wyoming, and then into Montana on US-212 which after a foreverlong drive caught back up with I90-W and took us to Billings about an hour later. I saw our first "real" wildlife - antelope and a bird I thought might be a road runner, but likely was not, as they do not live as far north at Montana apparently. It did, however, look very much like one, whatever it was.

On our way down 212, we saw a dark, threatening cloud hanging over the landscape a bit ahead of us and to the South. It was nearly an hour later though that we caught up with it, had a few raindrops and thought it was over. However, as we started to approach some of our first mountain passes, we saw that the storm was much larger than we thought and extended over the valley and hills. Again, about an hour away from the storm activity itself, we saw lightening striking down from the clouds into the hills and fields and as we climbed higher and higher, it of course got closer and closer. It was probably the closest I've been to lightening (except for the time it struck in front of Roomie and I while we were walking back from classes in Florence).

Once we got through the storm, probably an hour or two from Billings, we finally ran back into sunshine streaming through the few clouds remaining on the horizon. As we approached Billings, the trees and hills were just brilliant with light - it seemed a positive sign - but symbols aside, it was just gorgeous. I can see why Montana is called Big Sky...even with the mountain ranges, the landscape is far more filled with clouds, sunshine and sky than anything else. If I looked slightly above the road when driving, I almost could imagine that I was flying, because all I could see was sky.

The next day we made it to Missoula in about 5 hours or so - another long drive through mountains, fields and valleys. One notable sight: A sign advertising the "Testicle Festival." I had to assume it  was referring to Rocky Mountain Oysters, and it turns out that it was. Once we were about 45 minutes from Missoula, entering the County, it was hard to imagine a major town was ahead. Even 10 minutes from Missoula, you might not suspect anything if it weren't for billboards advertising hotels and restaurants. We entered Missoula through the mountains and it wasn't until we were actually within city limits that we could tell we had arrived.


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So far we've explored downtown a bit, trying new restaurants and driving around the University district looking for a home. We've got quite a few to look at, but many of those are through property management companies which we were hoping to avoid. It may also be difficult working with them right now as it is a long holiday weekend and we want a place by the end of the weekend if possible! I think we do have three through landlords themselves which are at the top of our list right now. Once we find something, we will settle in a bit and then head for San Francisco!

Six States!

In the last two days we have made it through six states! After heading from the hotel in Ohio, we drove through to Indiana, Illinois and then Missouri. We spent a relaxing afternoon and evening with DB's family....I swam and sunned by the pool and tried to get a little color. No luck of course. It was really nice though. For dinner we had DB's favorite pizza, Imo's, which is definitely up to my New Haven standards - nice thin crust, good sauce and tasty toppings. We decided to leave around 10 (which turned into 11....), and got to see his niece and nephew before we left.

From St. Louis, we drove for what seemed like forever through Missouri. I think most of the day was driving through there.....finally into Iowa, and then South Dakota. We made it to Sioux Falls in about eight and a half or nine hours today. Definitely got carded just checking into the hotel - that's a first. Something we discovered that I think we missed last year: the hotel/motel guides you can get at rest areas have really good rates/coupons in them....like at least $10 less than the AAA rate (somewhat disappointing). We've had good luck with them twice already. The AAA guides are still the most helpful though.

Our route so far has been thus:

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Tomorrow will take us through South Dakota....definitely one of my favorite places on the road trip with all there is to see. My plan is to stop at Corn Palace and pick up some really good popcorn, drive through the Badlands and then stop at Wall Drug for lunch. Something I'm excited about is getting my National Parks pass! With all our stops this summer it will certainly be worth it, and since it is good for a year, we can use it while we are living nearby Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks in MT. We may return to SD too for a more leisurely trip after finding an apartment and visiting the Pacific coast. I'd love to do some camping in the Black Hills and Badlands.

Wherever we end up tomorrow night (that's something we need to plan in the morning) will hopefully leave us with a not-too-long drive the next day to Missoula so apartment-hunting can commence.

I got a little bit of knitting done on the ride. My biggest fiber related accomplishment was rolling the messy skein of yarn into a center-pull ball. I kept getting yarn barf every few rows and that was just driving me crazy. I now have a nice neat ball. I meant to take a photo, but I keep forgetting to grab my camera. I also wanted a shot of the car....it's not too packed, but definitely full. (There is one door we cannot open.) And the hippo and dog stuffed animals are peeking out the rear window. It's very cute.

Off to sleep....yet another dinner I almost fell asleep over! Traveling is exhausting! Hopefully we will slow our pace considerably after we find a place in Missoula.

First day

I think this will be the most boring of the driving....not that it wasn't pretty. There was some nice scenery as we headed out of New Jersey on 80W. But once out of Pennsylvania, it was flat, flat, flat, which bores me to no end.

We pushed a bit and made it....not as far as we would have liked....but to Springfield, OH where we checked out the less expensive hotel options. They were totally sketchy. Like the place in Davenport, Iowa where we stayed last year....well, I guess I didn't write about it, but it was horrible. The pool was filthy, food wrappers everywhere, the smoke detectors were disconnected in my room, there were no toiletries and the woman at the counter was super cranky when I asked for some....and I read some awful reviews involving drug trade at this particular place and people walking into a room splattered with blood. Not a good night. So last night we opted for a slightly nicer option and it was worth it. Even $10 can make a difference.

We ran into a lot of bad thunder and rain storms on the way, once into Ohio. After checking in, we went across the parking lot to Cracker Barrel (of course) for a tasty meal. And we just made it back into the hotel before it really started coming down again. Poor DB had to run back to the car for his contact solution....and was drenched.

Storms aside, it was a fine trip. We got decent mileage though the hills killed it a bit. About 40 mpg. The SRS light has gone back off, after coming on briefly yesterday morning. I got some knitting in while DB drove, so maybe some day I will finish this baby blanket!

Today we are heading for St. Louis. It will be about a 6 hour drive....my plans include hanging out at the pool so far. Hopefully we'll have good weather, although here it looks gloomy and soggy.

almost (almost!) there....

We spent just about all day yesterday moving everything but the road trip stuff into my dad's car and trailer to take up to CT. Aside from a flat tire issue that brought us to meet several really nice people, it went really smoothly. (Note to self: write nice reviews for aforementioned businesses. Bad review for Garden State Honda who charged me to fix everything but the (under warranty) problem I came in with...and then didn't help me at all with the warrantied safety issue.)

The cat went missing briefly. I freaked out. Who wouldn't? How cute is she?

Dear boyfriend found her wedged underneath the couch....she had crawled up into the arm of the love seat somehow. She's staying with mom and brother until I return. Well, even then, she and I will still both be there until we go to Montana. I miss her already.

I have a lot of stuff. Not really furniture, just boxes and boxes of household things, pictures, lamps, kitchen stuff, etc. Knowing that we're moving (realistically) at least two more times, I am probably going to hold a huge yard sale and sell a lot. Because packing up a whole household every year is stressful.

DB and I then drove back to NJ for our last night here....in an empty apartment. (Again, aside from all the road trip stuff.) We picked up pizza from Star Tavern (which we will also miss!) and sat on pillows and a blanket on the floor and watched Harry Potter. This was around 8 or so...after eating we nearly fell asleep on the floor. We inflated the air mattress, and aside from being very squeaky, it wasn't too bad. Especially considering how exhausted we were. So practice camping went well. Now we are up bright and early, with plans to stop at Dunkin' Donuts, pack up the car, shower and finish cleaning the house (not much left to do there actually - just bathroom, fridge purge and polishing the floors).

We have a variety of first destinations, depending on how tired we are. The earliest would be Dayton, OH, second is Columbus, OH and third (11 and a half hours away) is Indianapolis. I'm guessing it will be one of the first two.

Off to caffeinate! And hopefully get on the road soon.

*tear*

Haven't knit in over 2 weeks....maybe more.....because packing is consuming my life. And stupid car problems :-P

Save me......

Also, on top of this, all the goodbyes.....it's been a really rough month.

Next moving trip: getting a van/truck, etc.

Anyway, I'm very sad to be saying goodbye to everyone at internship....and maybe not so sad to move, but it's still hard and stressful.

Hopefully more....good news.....later. Off to fill more boxes. Three letters: FML.

changes and things

I'm getting to the point where this blog is about to come back to the traveling topic, where it all began....[cue flashback music and fade out]....

Not that I'll be discarding the knitting portion. I just haven't been making any marked progress on that end of things in my life....I must be the slowest knitter ever! And, also, I haven't been home too much, so that could be part of it. Or at least at home, at leisure.

But the blanket continues....I knit some in the car on our way to and from Saratoga Springs for a girls weekend with Mom and sister. I enjoyed some time in the steam room, a mineral bath, a massage and facial.....ahhh! It was all kinds of wonderful and relaxing. There have been renovations since we were there last and the new lounge is great!

Anyway, the knitting goes on. And meanwhile, I've been thinking about this whole moving and road trip thing. It's rather exciting getting to plan yet another road trip....though difficult to choose where we'll go! We will definitely go down the Pacific coast....but I also want to see: All the parks in Utah (and maybe Arizona) we missed....the Loneliest Road again....maybe back to Great Basin....Yosemite since DB hasn't been there.....the Bonneville Salt Flats....

So, everything, basically. Watching the PBS National Parks documentary isn't helping either. Also, I want to become a park ranger, again. I'm thinking, practice psychology for like 20, 25 years....then maybe join the service. Or go back to college for a degree in Fiber Arts. Either way....

With all this planning about moving and living and so forth I've been thinking a lot about where I'd like to live, ideally. This year in NJ has convinced me I am not cut out for the suburbs, at all. We have been talking a lot about moving back to San Francisco and I think I would be happier there. But, there's a part of me that still wants what would be basically be a homestead or self-sustenance farm somewhere peaceful and surrounded by relatively untouched nature. What I miss about the city is the community. You don't find that in the suburbs, at least in my experience. I've met some of my neighbors here and they are really nice, but there is an isolation here that you don't find in a lot of urban neighborhoods or in small country villages. Even with the isolation of the country, when there is a community, however rarely it convenes, there is support and warmth around the common experience of country life. And in the urban neighborhoods - like where we lived in San Francisco - you get to know the shopkeepers and business owners, your neighbors and even some of the homeless. So, the suburbs aren't for me. It looks like we will be city-dwellers, at least for the next 5 or so years. DB is not much of an outdoorsy person (though I will be working on that during the road trip). Funny, despite our mutual introversion, we both miss the community we had in the Inner Sunset, all the people we met over the years.

Anyway, just musing....off to watch more of the National Parks documentary! I live an exciting life here...nothing like knitting, wine and some educational programming!